power in the stones -...

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Power in the StonesBy Daniel Carlson

“Of course there’s magic in those stones... but it isdark magic, and only the desperate or the foolish

would seek to use it. Woe to us that our times are richin both desperation and fools.”

– Fabergus Reinhardt, Witch Hunter

The value of the wyrdstone shards is notsimply the coin that nobles and

merchants are willing to pay for them. It is awell-known fact that the stones are rich inmagic, and they are said to grant a variety ofpowers to those that learn to use them. Talesare told among the common folk of stonesthat caused a certain farmer’s harvest todouble, or of the stone that made old HerrGrutenbauer's dog speak like a man. True ornot, these tales hint at the powerful andchaotic forces at work in the stones. The mostcommon use for the stones’ magic has to dowith the discovery of the famed alchemist vanHoffman of Reikland. It was he who firstobserved that Wyrdstone can serve as acatalyst in the transmutation of base metalsinto gold. This usage of the stones has cometo be the primary obsession of those who seekit, for many are willing to pay princely sumsfor stones that will make them an even largerfortune. Yet there are those who continue to

seek the stones for their more arcaneuses, and even mercenaries have

been known to keep a stoneor two that was thought

to bring luck, healing,or other magical

benefits.

Yet the stonesare ultimately

the work ofChaos, and

those whoseek to

usethemoftenlearnto

fear their magic rather than harness it. Forevery tale of a harvest that doubled, there aretwo about the harvests that rotted in the fieldwhen exposed to the strange glow of thestones; and for every tale of a dog that learnedto speak like a man there are darker tales ofanimals that turned into a gruesome parody ofa man-beast. The tales of magical healings aremixed with many of mutation and deathbrought on by exposure to the stones. Yetgreed is the downfall of many in the City ofthe Damned, and the greed for power isperhaps the greatest of all...

Note: Witch Hunters, Sisters of Sigmar,Bretonnians, High Elf Shadow Warriors andDwarfs are all too aware of the corruptingpower of the stones, and will not make use ofthem under any circumstances.

Evaluating StonesInstead of selling or storing all of a warband'swyrdstone shards, a player may choose tohave one or more of their stones evaluated byan alchemist for useful magical properties.This is done during the trading phase of thepost-battle sequence (consequently, thismeans if a stone is chosen to be evaluated andyields no special power, it cannotsubsequently be sold until after the nextbattle). Instead of searching for a rare item, ahero may take one shard of the warband’swyrdstone to an alchemist. Numerousalchemists have flocked to Mordheim to studythe stones, and they ply their trade from tentsand wagons in the encampments around thecity. Alchemists are known for their greed,however, and they do not provide theirservices for free; for each stone evaluated, thewarband must pay 20 gold crowns. When thestone is evaluated, roll 2D6 on the chartopposite:

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Power in The Stones

Using StonesStones may only be used by heroes, just likeother equipment. No hero may ever carrymore than one stone at a time (the combinedChaotic magic would instantly turn them intoChaos Spawn). Using a wyrdstone’s power isalways a dangerous undertaking and torepresent this, after every battle, each herowho carried a stone must make a check to seeif they have been adversely affected by their

usage of the stone’s power. Make the check byrolling 2D6 for each hero: a roll of 2, 3, 11 or12 indicates that they have been affected.Skaven, having a natural tolerance forwarpstone, are only affected on the roll of 2or 12. Roll a D6 on the following chart overthe page to see what has happened to affectedmodels.

2 Spell Stone. Any model who carries this stone into battle may cast onerandomly determined spell for the duration of the battle, using the normal rulesfor spell casting. The spell should be determined at random from the Lesser Magicspell list, and a different spell should be generated before each game in which thestone is used. This means the stone will be more useful in certain battles thanothers, depending on which spell it happens to provide for that game.

3 Stone of Regeneration. Any model who caries this stone into battle willregenerate lost wounds at a rate of one Wound regained each recovery phase. Amodel carrying this stone treats all stunned results it suffers on the Injury Chart asknocked down.

4 Stone of Might. A model who carries this stone into battle will have onecharacteristic increased for the duration of the battle. Roll a D6 to see whichcharacteristic is affected before each battle:

1 +1 Initiative 4 +l Toughness

2 +1 Movement 5 +1 Attacks

3 +1 Strength 6 +1 Wounds

Note that this temporary boost may take a characteristic above normal racialmaximums.

5 Stone of Warding. A model who carries this stone will not be affected by hostilemagic spells on a D6 roll of 4+.

6-8 No beneficial powers.

9 Stone of Luck. A model who carries this stone may re-roll any dice roll hemakes once per game. The second roll must be taken. This power may not becombined with other 'luck enhancements' like the spell Luck of Shemtek to yieldre-rolls on top of re-rolls, though it may be used to give a model affected by theseenhancements one additional re-roll during the battle as normal.

10 Stone of Skill. A model who carries this stone into battle will have onecharacteristic increased for the duration of the battle. Roll a D6 to see whichcharacteristic is affected before each battle:

1-2+1 Weapon Skill 3-4+1 Ballistic Skill 5-6+1 Leadership

Note that this temporary boost may take a characteristic above normal racialmaximums.

11 Stone of Healing. A model who carries this stone may heal one model within2" of him (including himself) during each recovery phase. The warrior regains onelost Wound. Note that this healing is only beneficial to models who have more thanone Wound on their profile.

12 Stone of Protection. A model who carries this stone has their armour saveimproved by one point (i.e. a 5+ save becomes a 4+ save). Note that no modelmay ever have a save better than 1+. If the model has no armour, the stone giveshim a 6+ armour save.

Power in The Stones

Becoming a Chaos SpawnChaos Spawn are the wretched remains of onewho has tasted the power of Chaos andproved unable to withstand its mutatingtouch. Wracked with waves of mutation andchange, a warrior is reduced to a monstrousbeast of fangs, tentacles, eyeballs, and otherhorrific growths. Their mind is forevershattered, and they become a gibbering andmindless servant of Chaos. Typically, when abeing meets this fate, his former comradeswill put him out of his misery with a swiftdeath... unless that seems like too dangerousa task to attempt, in which case they willsimply herd the beast away down one ofMordheim’s winding alleys or into the sewers.There are, however, some who have a desire

for and affinity with Chaos Spawn thatallows

them to keep their mutated friend amongtheir ranks as a weapon and pet to use againsttheir enemies.

If one of your heroes becomes a Chaos Spawnhe is considered to be lost to the warband,unless your warband is from the Cult of thePossessed or Skaven. Followers of Chaos havea sort of semi-reverence for these mindlessbeasts, and the Skaven have long been adeptat training and using the products ofwyrdstone-induced mutation.

When the hero ‘Spawns’, any armour theywere wearing is lost in the storm of violentmutation that overtakes the unfortunatewarrior. Weapons and equipment areabandoned by the creature, however, and maybe reclaimed by the warband. The new Spawnretains its previous characteristic profile andany existing mutations, and immediately gainsan additional D6 mutations which should begenerated on the Random Mutation Table. Ifthe hero was previously a spell caster, all spellcasting ability is lost. If the model became a

Spawn as the result of a characteristic beingtaken down to zero, that characteristicbecomes a 1 on the Spawn’s profile. TheSpawn's Movement characteristic may bedeleted, as the Spawn is now subject to aspecial rule that governs its movement onthe table top. The Spawn is now subject tothe following special rules:

Fear: The Spawn now causes fear.

Psychology: The Spawn is immune to allpsychology rules.

Movement: Instead of normal movement,

1 Spawn! The model has succumbed to the raw mutating force of Chaos, andbecomes a terrible Chaos Spawn. See 'Becoming a Chaos Spawn' below.

2 Weakened. The model has lost some of its life force to the stone. One ofthe model's characteristics is permanently reduced by one. Roll 2D6 to seewhich characteristic suffers:

1-2 Movement 5-6 Strength

3 Weapon Skill 7-8 Toughness

4 Ballistic Skill 9-10 Initiative

11-12 Leadership

If any characteristic is reduced to 0 as a result of the weakening, the modelbecomes a Chaos Spawn. See 'Becoming a Chaos Spawn' below.

3-4 Sickened. Exposure to the stone's magic has made the warrior physicallyill. He must miss the next battle while he recovers.

5-6 Mutation! The corrupting power of Chaos has caused the model to gain amutation. Roll on the Random Mutation Table (see below).

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each movement phase, the Spawn moves 2D6"towards any enemy model. The Spawn mustmove straight towards an enemy, though thisneed not be the nearest enemy, and may bean enemy the Spawn cannot even see (Spawnhave a plethora of senses, magical andotherwise that tell them where their foes are).If this movement brings the Spawn intocontact with any model, friend or foe, theSpawn immediately attacks it, and willcontinue to fight in following rounds until theother model has been taken out of action orfled. Spawn may move up ladders and stairs,and may even attempt to climb walls subjectto the normal climbing rules.

The Spawn will not gain any experiencepoints from future battles; it is far toomindless to learn from its actions.

The Spawn should be represented by anappropriate model. While this could be one ofthe Chaos Spawn models from theWarhammer line, it's probably more satisfyingand fun to make your own. Spawn are theultimate you-can-do-no-wrong conversionproject, where you can throw together allsorts of stray bits to make a really uniquemodel.

Random Mutation TableMordheim is a city under the sway of Chaos,and with Chaos comes mutation and change.There are numerous ways by which a warriorcan be afflicted with mutation, and there aresome who actually seek out mutation as a'reward’ of the Chaos Powers. While mutations

are not always harmful, and indeed can oftenbe helpful, they are a mark of Chaos, and assuch those who bear them are feared,shunned and persecuted throughout theEmpire.

The following is a table used to generate thecolourful, exotic, and sometimes debilitatingmutations that will be visited upon certainwarriors at certain times (i.e. as a result ofexposure to Wyrdstone, for example). Thetable may also prove useful to Gamemasterswho want to quickly generate someinteresting mutants for a special scenario. Thetable uses a D66 roll, just like the HeroesSerious Injuries table in the rulebook. If themutant rolls a mutation that it alreadypossesses, re-roll it until a new mutation isgenerated.

Note: The great danger of mutation is that itwill ultimately overwhelm the victim with thecorrupting power of Chaos, reducing them toa monstrous and mindless Chaos Spawn. Torepresent this danger, if a warrior ever has acharacteristic reduced to zero as the result ofa mutation, they immediately degenerate intoa loathsome Chaos Spawn (see the full rulesfor Chaos Spawn above).

Any member of a human, mercenary warband(this includes both Ostlanders andAverlanders) that receives a mutation markedwith * is immediately drummed out of thewarband by his suspicious peers. Remove thehero from the roster, his equipment is lost.

Power in The Stones

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11 Acid Spray*. The mutant can spit acid atits foes. The acid spray uses the mutant’sBallistic Skill to hit, just as if the mutant werefiring a missile weapon. The spray has a rangeof 8", and a Strength of 4. The mutant doesnot suffer any penalty for spraying a target atlong range, nor does the mutant suffer anypenalty for moving and spraying in the sameturn.

12 Atrophy. A part of the mutant’s body hasbecome shrivelled and atrophied. Roll a D6:

1 head. The mutant is now subject to

stupidity.

2-4 arm. The mutant loses the usage of one

arm. The mutant may only use a single one-

handed weapon from now on. If both arms are

lost the mutant must be retired from the

warband unless it possesses a tail or bite attack

of some kind.

5-6 leg. The mutant loses the usage of one leg.

Divide the mutant's Movement in half,

rounding up. If both legs are lost, the mutant

must be retired from the warband.

13 Beaked*. The mutant has a beak like thatof a bird or octopus, though its other facialfeatures remain unchanged. Unless themutant already possesses a bite attack, themutant may make an additional attack in eachhand-to-hand combat phase due to its viciousbite.

14 Beweaponed Extremities*. The mutant’shands are turned into weapons! The mutantmay no longer use other weapons orequipment that would require the usage ofhands.

On the plus side, it no longer has to worryabout being caught without a weapon! Themutant will gain the normal extra attack in

Roll a D66

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Power in The Stones

hand-to-hand for using an additional handweapon, and the weapon extremities followthe normal rules for weapons of their type(i.e. sword extremities may be used to parry).Roll a D6 for each arm to see what itbecomes:

1-2 sword, 3-4 mace, 5-6 axe. If the mutantgrows two sword extremities, it may re-rollfailed parries just as if it had a sword and abuckler.

15 Blackblood. If the model loses a woundin close combat, anyone in base contact withthe model suffers a Strength 3 hit (no criticalhits) from the spurting corrosive blood.

16 Brightly Patterned Skin* The mutant'sskin becomes brightly coloured withcontrasting stripes, spots, or other patterns.No effect on play, but a great excuse to paintan interesting new model!

21 Burning Body*. The mutant's body isconstantly burning with flickering tongues ofhellish flame and burns with unnatural light.The warrior may not carry any weapons orarmour unless they are magical, or forgedfrom Gromril or Ithilmar. The mutant doesnot suffer the usual penalties for fighting withhis fists (no -1 to the mutant's Strength,

enemies do not add +l to armour saves). Themutant always counts as having a lantern. Anymodel in base contact with the mutant suffersan automatic Strength 2 hit at the beginningof each close combat phase. The flamescannot cause critical hits.

22 Cloud of Flies. The mutant ispermanently surrounded by a great swirlingmass of flies. Opponents in close combat withthe mutant are at -1 on all to hit rolls, as theflies buzz into eyes, noses, and mouths.

23 Cloven Hooves*. The warrior gains +lMovement.

24 Crystalline Body*. The mutant's bodybecomes living crystal, which is tough, buteasily shattered. The mutant's Toughnessbecomes 6, while its Wounds become 1.

Neither of these attributes can subsequentlybe altered by experience or mutation. If anexperience advance indicates a change in oneof these characteristics, re-roll the advanceuntil a different characteristic advance isobtained.

25 Elastic Limbs*. The mutant's arms canstretch out, allowing the mutant to attackfrom a distance. If the mutant is not in basecontact with an enemy model at the beginningof the hand-to-hand combat phase, it maymake one hand-to-hand attack against a singlevisible enemy within 6" of the mutant. Theenemy does not get a chance to fight back.

26 Enormously Fat. The mutant becomesenormously fat and bloated. Divide itsMovement in half, rounding up; add +1 to itsToughness; and reduce its Initiative by 1.

31 Extra Arm*. The mutant may use anysingle-handed weapon in the extra arm, givinghim +1 attack when fighting in hand-to-handcombat. Alternatively, he may carry a shield orbuckler in the extra arm. If a mutant who is

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unable to use weaponry (i.e. Possessed, ChaosSpawn, etc.) gains this mutation, they simplygain an extra attack; they are still notpermitted to use weapons.

32 Extremely Thin. The mutant becomes amatchstick figure, sickly thin and bony. Divideits Toughness in half, rounding up.

33 Eyestalks*. The mutant has stalked eyes,similar to a crab. The mutant now causes fear.

34 Fangs*. The mutant grows huge fangs,giving it an extra bite attack (unless it alreadyhas one) in each hand-to-hand combat phase.The bite attack uses the mutant's normalStrength.

35 Furry*. The mutant grows a covering oflong, dense fur. The mutation changes themutant's appearance only; and has no effecton its profile.

36 Great Claw*. One of the mutant's armsends in a great, crab-like claw. He may carryno weapons in this arm, but gains an extraattack in hand-to-hand combat with a +1Strength bonus.

41 Hideous. The mutant causes fear, and isseldom invited to parties.

42 Horns*. The mutant's head grows horns,and it gains an extra gore attack in hand-to-hand combat at the mutant's normal StrengthThe mutant may no longer wear a helmet.

43 Iron Hard Skin*. The mutant's skin iscovered in iron and steel scales. The mutant'sarmour save is improved by +1 (i.e. a 5+ savebecomes a 4+). Note that a warrior's armoursave may never improve to better than a 1+save. If the mutant has no armour, their skinalone gives them a 6+ armour save.

44 Mace Tail*. The mutant grows a flexibletail with a mace-like bony tip. Unless it alreadyhas a tail, the mutant gains an extra tail attackin each hand-to-hand combat phase at themutant's Strength +1. If the mutant alreadyhas a tail, it will have to decide at thebeginning of each hand-to-hand phasewhich tail it wishes to use.

45 Moronic. The mutant's mind shrinks. Themutant is now subject to stupidity.

46 Plague Bearer*. The mutant carries ahideous, Chaos-tainted disease. The mutant'slimbs are covered in open sores, and themutant is dramatically weakened by itscondition.

Reduce the mutant's Movement and Initiativeby -1. Any time the mutant hits an enemy inhand-to-hand combat, there is a chance theyhave infected their foe with this debilitatingdisease: the enemy model must roll equal toor less than its Toughness on a D6 to avoidcontracting the sickness. If the roll is higherthan the model's Toughness, they suffer the -1to Movement and Initiative penalty for the restof the battle, (after which it is assumed theyget immediate herbal remedies and plenty ofrest to keep the disease from setting inpermanently!). The Plague Bearer may notinfect the same model more than once in asingle battle. In addition, the Plague Bearer'sghastly appearance means it now causes fear.

51 Poisonous Bite. The mutant grows smallfangs which can secrete a potent poison.

Unless the warrior already has a biteattack, it gains an extra attack in eachhand-to-hand combat phase dueto its deadly bite. Thepoisonous bite is aStrength 5 attack, but isreduced to Strength2 if the target ofthe bite isimmune topoison. If themutant alreadypossesses abite attack, itis simplyupgraded toinclude thepoisonouseffectdescribedabove.

Power in The Stones

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52 Prehensile Tail*. The mutant grows aprehensile tail. Unless the mutant already hasa tail attack, he gains an additional attack withthis tail in each hand-to-hand combat phase.The mutant may hold and use any single-handed weapon in the tail, or alternatively, hemay carry and use a shield or buckler with it.If a mutant with other tail attacks does use anequipped prehensile tail in a hand-to-handcombat phase, he may not use any of his othertail attacks during that phase; a single tailmust be selected for use at the beginning ofeach hand-to-hand phase. If a mutant unableto use weaponry (i.e. Possessed, ChaosSpawn, etc.) gains this mutation, they simplygain an extra attack (unless they alreadypossess a tail attack); they remain unable touse weapons.

53 Regeneration. The mutant can often healinstantly from wounds it suffers in battle.When the mutant suffers one or moreWounds, it may try to regenerate the damage.

Roll a D6: on the roll of a 4+, the mutant hasinstantly healed itself back to full Wounds. Ifless than a 4 is rolled, the mutant'sregenerative powers have been temporarilyexhausted, and it may not attempt furtherregenerations for the remainder of the battle.

54 Resilient. The mutant's skin thickens, orbecomes scaly, or otherwise increases itsresilience to damage. Increase the mutant'sToughness by +1.

55 Scorpion Tail*. The mutant has a longbarbed tail with an envenomed tip, allowinghim to make an extra Strength 5 attack in eachhand-to-hand combat phase (unless themutant already has a tail attack, in which caseit will have to select a single one of itsavailable tail attacks in each hand-to-handphase). If the model hit by the tail is immune

to poison, the Strength of the hit is reducedto 2.

56 Skull Face*. The flesh of the mutant's facedissolves, leaving a skull. The mutant nowcauses fear.

61 Spines*. Any model in base contact withthe mutant suffers an automatic Strength 1 hitat the beginning of each close combat phase.Spines will never cause critical hits.

62 Stunted. The mutant's body becomeshunchbacked and stiffened. Reduce themutant's Movement and Initiative by -1.

63 Suckers*. The mutant's limbs are coveredin adhesive suckers. The mutant automaticallypasses Initiative tests when climbing.

64 Tentacle*. One of the mutant's arms endsin a tentacle. He may grapple his opponent inclose combat to reduce his attacks by -1, downto a minimum of 1. The mutant may decidewhich attack his opponent loses.

65 Warts. The mutant is covered in repellentwarts. The mutant's profile is unaffected.

66 Wings*. The mutant grows a pair offeathered or bat-like wings. The wings are notstrong enough to allow the mutant to fly inthe proper sense, but they do allow themutant to glide down from an elevatedposition. If the mutant is above the table-topsurface (on a roof, walkway, etc.) it may glidedown at a rate of 2" horizontally for each inchof downward vertical movement.

Power in The Stones

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USA ☎1-800-394-GAM

EUK ☎

0115 91-40-000Mutations

To help convert mutations onto your models we’ve found these bits in the Mail Order vaults. Thereis also a Chaos Spawn in the Warhammer range which we have shown below.

CHAOS SPAWN HEAD 1020104905 CHAOS SPAWN HEAD 1

020104905

CHAOS SPAWN TAIL 1020104912





A COMPLETE CHAOS SPAWN CONSISTS OF:1 x CHAOS SPAWN BODY

3 x PAIRS OF CHAOS SPAWN LEGS IF YOU CHOOSE BODY 1 OR 2 x PAIRS OF CHAOS SPAWN LEGS IF YOU CHOOSE BODY 2

5 x CHAOS SPAWN HEADS3 x CHAOS SPAWN TAILS

1 x CHAOS SPAWN NECK JOINT1 x CHAOS SPAWN TAIL JOINT

THE CHAOS SPAWN IS A CREATURE OF MANY RANDOMHORRIBLE FORMS AND DEFORMATIONS SO PLEASE FEEL FREE

TO USE A TAIL AS A HEAD, A HEAD AS A LEG OR ANY OTHERCOMBINATION YOU CAN THINK OF!

Complete Chaos Spawn £5 (+p&p)

MINOTAUR HORNS020104406

GREATER DAEMON OFTZEENTCH HEAD

020103603

POSSESSED HEAD 1110100402

POSSESSED HEAD 1110100408

HARPY WINGS029900803

POSSESSED TENTACLES110100106

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